DGX Spark stuck in boot loop after first update — cannot access UEFI/BIOS or boot recovery USB

[niccolocappelli.business]

Hello,

I am having a serious issue with a new DGX Spark during the first setup/update process.

What happened:

• I powered on the DGX Spark for the first time.

• Initial setup completed normally (password creation, etc.).

• The system started installing updates.

• After rebooting, the device remained on the NVIDIA logo for a very long time. I turned it off after all night and tried to reboot

Since then, the system no longer boots correctly.

Current behavior:

• On power-on, the monitor shows the NVIDIA logo.

• Sometimes the screen turns black and then returns to the NVIDIA logo.

• The system appears stuck in a reboot/boot loop.

• At one point I briefly saw a progress bar without text, but the system never reached login/setup.

• The issue persisted for multiple hours.

Troubleshooting already attempted:

• Full power drain (hold power button 20 sec + unplugged power).

• Boot with minimal setup (only HDMI, wired keyboard, power).

• Tried different HDMI cables/monitor.

• Tried pressing and holding Esc / Del / F2 during boot.

• Tried holding Esc before pressing power for over 60 seconds.

• Tried different USB ports.

• Created the official DGX Spark recovery USB successfully.

Main issue:
I cannot access UEFI/BIOS or Boot Override, so I cannot boot from the recovery USB.

The system always returns to the NVIDIA logo and never enters UEFI.

Questions:

1. Is there any additional method to force UEFI/recovery mode on DGX Spark?

2. Is this likely firmware corruption caused by interrupting the first update?

3. Is there a hardware-level recovery/reset procedure available?

4. At this point should the unit be considered for RMA?

Any help would be appreciated.

[giles8]

I can’t think of a solution that would not invalidate your warranty, so the sound advice here is to contact support for a solution, which might involve an RMA.

[hynek.cihlar2]

Hey, I had the exact same boot loop issue with my DGX Spark. Try unplugging everything except the HDMI cable — no keyboard, no USB hub, no other USB devices at all. In my case, the boot loop was caused by connected USB devices / a USB hub. Once I unplugged them all, the system stopped looping. Give it a try and let me know if it helps!

[Neill]

Hi @niccolocappelli.business,

Sorry you’re running into this on first boot.

Based on the current public System Recovery guide, the documented recovery path is still to use a keyboard and display connected directly to the DGX Spark, power it on, and immediately hold Esc or Del to enter UEFI. From there, the guide says to restore UEFI defaults, confirm Secure Boot is enabled / restore factory keys, and then use Save & Exit -> Boot Override to boot the recovery USB.

A few direct answers to your questions:

1. I’m not seeing a separate public “forced recovery” or hardware reset sequence in the DGX Spark docs beyond the UEFI + recovery USB process above. The guide specifically calls out using a keyboard plugged directly into the Spark, and notes that some Bluetooth keyboards may not work during this process.

2. Yes, interrupted first-boot updates are a plausible cause here. The Initial Setup - First Boot page explicitly warns not to shut down or reboot during the initial update process and says powering down during updates can cause system damage.

3. I’m not seeing a separate public hardware-level reset procedure in the user guide. One additional sanity check: please make sure you are using the supplied power adapter, since the Known Issues page notes that other adapters may reduce performance, prevent boot, or cause unexpected shutdowns.

4. If the system still cannot enter UEFI at all after:

• minimal peripherals only

• a plain wired USB keyboard connected directly to the unit

• the supplied power adapter

• and a correctly created recovery USB

then this is beyond the documented self-recovery flow, since the published recovery steps depend on entering UEFI and selecting the USB from Boot Override.

If you are able to get the system booted far enough to run diagnostics, please run the DGX Spark field diagnostic and post the results here.

Field diagnostic install / run steps (public sources for review: Contacting NVIDIA Support, NVIDIA DGX SPARK Field Diagnostics):

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/ubuntu2404/sbsa/cuda-archive-keyring.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/cuda-archive-keyring.gpg > /dev/null

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cuda-archive-keyring.gpg] https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/ubuntu2404/sbsa /" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cuda-sbsa-ubuntu2404.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dgx-spark-fieldiag

dpkg -l | grep dgx-spark-fieldiag

Before running it, disable Secure Boot:

sudo mokutil --sb-state
sudo systemctl reboot --firmware-setup

Then in UEFI go to Security -> Secure Boot -> Disable Secure Boot, save changes, and reboot.

Run the diagnostic:

sudo init 3
cd /opt/nvidia/dgx-spark-fieldiag
sudo ./partnerdiag --field

This switches the display to TTY/text console mode, which is expected. The run takes about 30 minutes and ends with a PASS / FAIL / RETEST banner. If the run is interrupted, power-cycle the system before trying again.

After the run, re-enable Secure Boot:

sudo systemctl reboot --firmware-setup

Then in UEFI go to Security -> Secure Boot -> Enable Secure Boot, save, and reboot.

Please post back with:

• the final PASS / FAIL / RETEST banner

• the contents of the latest summary.json

• and ideally a compressed copy of the latest log directory

The field diagnostic generates logs in the dgx/logs-<yyyymmdd-hhnnss> folder. That folder includes summary.json, plus general run logs such as run.log and output.log.

If you cannot get into UEFI at all, then field diagnostics will likely have to wait until we can first get the system to boot recovery media or otherwise recover the platform.